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Several sensor technologies have been developed and experimented over the last few decades to cater various needs of medical diagnostics. Among these, fiber optic sensors, in particular, Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) based sensors have attracted considerable attention due to their inherent advantages such electrical passiveness, immunity to Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI), chemical inertness, etc. The present research work focuses on design, development and validation of FBG sensor based devices for measurement of certain healthcare parameters in the context of foot function/gait cycle, cardiac and breathing activity, nostril dominance, hand grip/wrist angle force function, etc. The experimental work presented here emphasizes on the effectiveness and competitiveness of the FBG devices developed, in comparison with standard tools such as Accelerometer, Load cell, Electronic Stethoscope, Electromyogram and Dynamometer. In the field of human balance, stability and geriatrics, two independent FBG devices namely, Fiber Bragg Grating based Stability Assessment Device (FBGSAD) and Optical Sensor Ground Reaction Force measurement Platform (OSGRFP) have been designed, developed and experimented for postural stability assessment and gait analysis respectively. The result of these studies have significant implications in understanding of the mechanism of plantar strain distribution, identifying issues in gait cycles, detecting foot function discrepancies, identifying individuals who are susceptible to falls and to qualify subjects for balance and stability. In the field of ergonomic assessment, Fiber Braggs Grating based Hand Grip Device (FBGHGD) is designed and developed for the measurement of hand grip force which helps in the understanding of several important biomechanical aspects such as neuromuscular system function, overall upper-limb strength, vertebral fracture, skeletal muscle function, prediction of disability, incapacity, mortality and bone mass density (forearm, skeletal sites, spine, hip etc.). Further as an extension of this work, the FBGHGD is used for measurement of force generated by the wrist in different positions of the flexion and extension which relates to the wrist muscle activity and its enactment. In the field of cardiac activity monitoring, a novel, in-vivo, non-invasive and portable device named Fiber Bragg Grating based Heart Beat Device (FBGHBD) is developed for the simultaneous measurement of respiratory and cardiac activities. The work involves designing FBGHBD, validating its performance against traditional diagnostic systems like electronic stethoscope, exploration of its clinical relevance and the usage of FBGHBD in studies involving normal persons and patients with myocardial infarction. The unique design of FBGHBD provides critical information such as nascent morphology of cardiac and breathing activity, heart rate variability, heart beat rhythm, etc., which can assist in early clinical diagnosis of many conditions associated to heart and lung malfunctioning. Further, the scope of this work extends towards evaluating several signal processing algorithms and demonstrating a suitable signal processing architecture for real-time extraction of heart beat and respiratory rates along with its nascent morphologies for critical health care application. In the area of breath monitoring, a Nostril Pressure and Temperature Device (NPTD) is designed and developed which aims at simultaneous, accurate and real-time measurement of nostril air flow pressure and temperature to aid in clinical diagnosis of nasal dysfunction and associated nose disorders. The results of NPTD can offer certain vital features like breathing pattern, respiratory rate, changes in individual nostril temperature/pressure, nostrils dominance, body core temperature etc., which can assist in early clinical diagnosis of breathing problems associated with heart, brain and lung malfunctioning. Since the research work in this thesis involve experiments engaging human subjects, necessary approvals from the ethical committee is obtained before the experiments and required ethical procedures are followed during all the experimental trials.

The Excavator industry is developmentally behind many other similar industries. This is, like many parts of these long living machines, true for the controls used to maneuver them. It has few competent control systems that are ergonomic, comfortable, adaptable, durable and intuitive. Existing solutions that fill some of these criteria exist, but the approximate majority of machines in the world lack a good solution and most are equipped with inadequate solutions.  The doctrine of Human centered design was applied throughout the pilot study to increase the quality of research and ease finding correlations between instances of information. International standards, Human-machine systems and Anthropometrics were consulted to achieve a result adapted for a larger variety of operators.  This thesis consists of the pilot study and prototype development of one such Human-machine-system, more specifically the joystick, or grip as it’s called within the industry. The solution developed is specifically equipped with controls adapted for tiltrotator control. As the grip is developed on behalf of the company engcon, who develops tiltrotators and also the control system including a grip, to offer a complete plug and play solution.  The first main objective was performing a pilot study of what is required in the future for excavator grips. Primarily through interviews with excavator operators, but also a benchmarking and a workshop it was determined what must be achieved in terms of technical and ergonomic solutions.  The second main objective during the thesis was to create a prototype that achieve a high level in terms of grip form. A form which is comfortable to hold, ergonomic to operate for multiple hours and that is adapted to a larger variety of hand sizes than the competitors. It also required a higher level of stability than the current solution. This shape needed to take internal electronics, ISO-standards and future controls into account. The solution must eventually achieve a high level of manufacturability, of which the groundwork was laid during the thesis, but took lower priority. Further testing is required but results so far seem to point towards this being achieved.  This will hopefully post-thesis result in a solution that leads to healthier operators, further enabling female operators entering the field, performing work with higher accuracy and a longer lasting more sustainable product that is intuitive and easy to learn. / Grävmaskinsindustrin ligger utvecklingsmässigt bakom många andra liknande industrier. Detta är, som många delar av dessa långlivade maskiner, sant för kontrollerna som används för att manövrera dem. Den har få kompetenta kontrollsystem som är ergonomiska, bekväma, anpassningsbara, slitstarka och intuitiva. Befintliga lösningar som fyller några av dessa kriterier finns, men approximativt saknar majoriteten av maskiner i världen en bra lösning och de flesta är utrustade med otillräckliga lösningar.  Läran om Människocentrerad design tillämpades genom hela förstudien för att öka kvaliteten på forskningen samt förenkla sökandet av samband mellan instanser av information. Internationella standarder, Människa-maskin-system och antropometri konsulterades för att uppnå ett resultat anpassat för ett större antal operatörer.  Detta examensarbete består av en förstudie och prototyputveckling av ett sådant Människa-maskin-system, närmare bestämt joysticken, eller på engelska grip som är ett vanligare namn inom branschen. Den framtagna lösningen är speciellt utrustad med reglage anpassade för tiltrotatorstyrning eftersom greppet är utvecklat på uppdrag av företaget engcon. Företaget utvecklar huvudsakligen tiltrotatorer men även ett styrsystem inklusive en joystick, för att erbjuda en komplett plug and play-lösning.  Det första huvudmålet var att göra en förstudie av vad som krävs i framtiden av grävmaskinsjoysticks. Främst genom intervjuer med grävmaskinister, men också genom en benchmarking och en workshop, fastställdes vad som måste uppnås vad gäller tekniska och ergonomiska områden.  Det andra huvudmålet under examensarbetet var att skapa en prototyp som uppnår en hög nivå vad gäller greppform. En form som är bekväm att hålla i, ergonomisk att använda i flera timmar och som är anpassad till en större variation av handstorlekar än konkurrenterna. Det krävde också en högre stabilitet än den nuvarande lösningen. Denna form behövde ta hänsyn till intern elektronik, ISO-standarder och framtida reglage. Lösningen måste så småningom uppnå en hög grad av tillverkningsbarhet, vilket grunden lades under examensarbetet, men prioriterades lägre. Ytterligare tester krävs, men resultaten hittills tycks peka mot att detta uppnås.  Detta kommer förhoppningsvis, efter examensarbetet, att resultera i en lösning som leder till hälsosammare operatörer, som ytterligare möjliggör kvinnliga operatörer, ett arbete som kan utföras med högre precision samt en slitstarkare och hållbarare produkt som är intuitiv och lätt att lära sig.

Monitoring exhaustion using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) wearable biosensors seems promising in sports climbing. However, there is a lack of research regarding climbing specific muscular exhaustion and muscle oxidative metabolism. The current study analyses how exhaustion affects muscle oxidative metabolism and deduces to what extent measurements using NIRS are suitable for an objective monitoring as well as feedback of exhaustion. / Die Überwachung der Erschöpfung mit Hilfe von Nahinfrarotspektroskopie (NIRS) und tragbaren Biosensoren scheint beim Sportklettern vielversprechend. Allerdings fehlt es an Untersuchungen zur kletterspezifischen muskulären Erschöpfung und zum oxidativen Muskelstoffwechsel. Die vorliegende Studie analysiert, wie sich die Erschöpfung auf den oxidativen Stoffwechsel der Muskeln auswirkt, und leitet ab, inwieweit Messungen mit NIRS für eine objektive Überwachung sowie für ein Feedback der Erschöpfung geeignet sind.